The Gambia

Overview

Riders first began working in The Gambia in 2002 in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MoHSW) to manage their fleet of vehicles, which were newly purchased through a World Bank loan.

In 2009, as the fleet was ageing, Riders launched our first national vehicle-leasing programme, which we call Transport Asset Management (TAM), in partnership with the MoHSW. Under TAM, the MoHSW was provided with an entire fleet of new health care vehicles, including ambulances, trekking vehicles and motorcycles, which are owned by Riders and are leased to the Government at a not-for-profit fee. This service was implemented utilising innovative financing through an African commercial bank and the Skoll Foundation. This system enables The Gambia to be the first country in Africa to be equipped with complete transportation coverage for its health service.

In addition, we offer fleet management for a number of other health-focused organisations in The Gambia, including Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO). These vehicles are used for emergency referrals, mass immunisation campaigns, outreach clinics, health education meetings and various other forms of health care delivery.

Innovative vehicle management principles

Built on over 20 years of experience in managing vehicles in Africa, we have developed vehicle management solutions founded on three core principles, integral to all that we do:

• Preventive maintenance: Riders’ preventive maintenance system will replace parts on vehicles at regular intervals to avoid breakdowns. Our system keeps fleets running, in better condition, for the duration of their intended mechanical lifetime. As well as having workshops across our programmes, we operate an outreach maintenance system where our technicians bring our services to where the partner is working. They travel to a convenient location to conduct regularmaintenance on the motorcycles and vehicles, saving time and money.

• Training of vehicle users: As important as the maintenance itself, training is critical in keeping vehicle users safe and optimising the life of the vehicle. We willtrain vehicle users in defensive driving and basic maintenance checks every year.
Planning and budgeting: Our unique pricing models enable our partners to manage and budget for on-going running costs. We can offer additional advice and support for setting appropriate budgets for the delivery of sustainable health programmes. We can also advise on the selection of appropriate vehicles for the environment and for our partners’ programmes, our technical team are on-hand to help.